As the lies they'd told about Milo were exposed, Ron just wished the ground would swallow him up and he would disappear. He and Ginny had been so sure the little white lie wouldn't be exposed, and now it had been, he was aware of how desperate and pathetic he looked. Although to make matters worse, they even looked bigger fools thanks to the mistakes they'd made regarding Harry's relationship with Daphne. Maybe if they'd been right and Harry had been dumped by the witch he'd abandoned them for, Ron wouldn't have felt quite so pathetic, but as it was Harry's life had turned out perfectly while his was a complete and utter mess.

All Ron wanted to do was run away and hide, however Ginny insisted they braved the storm and she made Ron find a seat while she went to get some drinks. She also returned with menus, but for the first time in his life, Ron wasn't hungry. With the floor show over everyone seemed to have gone back to their individual conversations but given the amount of people who kept glancing their way, Ron was betting he and Ginny were the topic of those conversations.

"I still can't believe they knew about Milo," Ginny muttered, glaring to where their old friends were still sitting. Only now Draco and Daphne had returned to their original seats and Blaise had pulled his chair up to end of the table and squeezed into the action. "Why didn't anyone ever tell us they were still friendly with them?"

"I guess we really shouldn't have assumed," Ron conceded with a sigh. "We thought that since Harry and Hermione knew our family because of us that without us that contact would have ceased."

"And it really should have," Ginny argued. "Why on earth have our family kept in touch with people who were our friends? It makes no sense."

"It's done so there's no point arguing about it," Ron sighed.

"I am not letting this drop," Ginny warned. "Just wait until I see our so-called family. I want to know why they kept in touch with Harry and Hermione, and why they'd never seen fit to tell us about it. You know, if they'd only told us they were still in touch with them, today's disaster could have been avoided. We would have known not to lie about Milo, and we would have known Harry was still with that tart he now calls a wife."

"And we would have known about Hermione and Malfoy," Ron added in a small voice as he looked back towards his ex-girlfriend and shuddered at the sight of Malfoy's arm draped casually over her shoulder as he whispered something in her ear which caused her to laugh and smile brightly at him.

"Maybe we should have seen that one coming," Ginny snorted. "Once Harry was with a Slytherin, I guess it was only a matter of time before Hermione followed suit. She always has struggled to make her own way in life, she just used to blindly follow you and Harry, and I guess nothing has changed."

Ron felt that he should stick up for Hermione, as he knew that Hermione wouldn't simply get involved with a Slytherin because Harry had done so, but he was too hurt by the sight of the witch he'd once loved on the arm of the snake that was Draco Malfoy, to jump to her defence. Instead, he knocked back his drink and informed his sister it was time for them to go.

"But we haven't eaten," Ginny protested with a pout.

"I'm not hungry," Ron muttered. "If you are, you can get something when we get back to the hotel."

"Hotel?" Ginny gasped. "You mean you want to leave the reunion completely?"

"Of course I want to leave completely," Ron hissed at his sister. "I've just been publicly humiliated. I've spent the morning bragging about my wonderful life, only to have it exposed as complete fantasy in front of dozens of my old schoolmates. Even people who didn't witness what happened, will hear about it. And I do not fancy spending the afternoon fending of questions, or worse yet, putting up with people staring and gossiping about me. This was a bad idea coming here, and I want to go."

"I'm sorry Ron, I never meant for it to go like this," Ginny said with a sympathetic smile as she reached across the table and squeezed her brother's hand.

Out of the corner of his eye, Ron spotted a couple of former Hufflepuffs and their families looking in their direction, their focus seemingly on the table between him and Ginny. Looking down, he saw their entwined hands and recalling Zabini's innuendoes, he hastily pulled away from his sister's touch. As if he hadn't been humiliated enough, now there even seemed to be a question over how close he was to Ginny. It had been a terrible day and the sooner he left Hogsmeade, never to return, the better.

"Let's go," he snapped at Ginny as he shot to his feet.

As the pair left the pub, they were aware of every eye on them, and Ron knew they had just fuelled the gossip for the rest of the day, possibly even for the rest of the year. No doubt their contribution to the reunion would be remembered for years to come. Not that Ron had any plans to ever find out how people had reacted to their dramas as if he ever got another invite to a class reunion, it would be going straight into the bin, which was where he wished he'd thrown this one.

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As Hermione watched Ron exit the pub with his sister and nephew, she wondered if she should have stepped in to stop some of the humiliation that had come their way. To be honest when they'd first approached them, she'd decided to ensure that no-one mentioned their lies about Milo, unless either Ron or Ginny mentioned the story they were telling people. However, within minutes of their reunion, they'd started to gloat over what they thought was Harry's failed relationship with Daphne and any thought Hermione had considered about saving them from humiliation had fled as they gloated and made some incredibly rude remarks about her friend.

So when Daphne had cleverly turned the topic onto Milo, Hermione hadn't interjected to save her ex from humiliation. Instead, she'd sat back and watched as Ron and Ginny had dug themselves even deeper into trouble. And when they'd then tried to involve Draco in their games, Hermione had been pleased she'd said nothing and had allowed the truth to come out. However, as she'd watched Ron sitting in obvious despair, and then bolting out of the pub, she couldn't help but wonder if she should have been the bigger person and took steps to avoid the humiliation that had taken place.

"Stop it," Draco suddenly whispered in her ear, causing her to jump slightly.

"Stop what?" she asked her husband, frowning slightly at the annoying habit he had of being able to read her thoughts. Initially, she'd wondered if he used his skill in legilimency on her, but he'd assured her that he wouldn't do such a thing and she'd come to accept that he just knew her well enough to often know what she was thinking.

"Stop feeling sorry for Weasley and his sister," Draco answered. "They brought it all on themselves. They chose to lie about Ginny's son without bothering to find out if anyone knew about him. And they certainly chose to twist the fact they'd seen Daphne and I together to fit with what they'd wanted to happen to Harry. And more importantly, they chose to come up to us and taunt Harry about what they believed was his failed relationship with Daphne. If it had been true, and he and Daphne had split up, they would have loved every moment of it. So do not feel sorry for them, when they deserve everything they got."

"If you put it like that, it is hard to feel pity for them," Hermione conceded. "It's just such a shame that it's all ended like this. I can't believe ten years have passed, and they're both still as immature as they were back in school."

"Some people never grow up I guess," Draco remarked with a shrug. "But we can't let them spoil things. We've got the rest of the reunion to enjoy. Don't let those two dampen our spirits and ruin our day."

Agreeing with Draco that it would be foolish to let Ron and Ginny spoil things, Hermione put thoughts of both redheads out of her mind as they headed off to enjoy the remainder of the reunion. The play area was their first port of call and Scorpius dragged Blaise off to see how high he could push him on the swings. Seeing Scorpius on the swings, the Longbottom twins also wanted a go, so Neville and Harry settled them on either side of Scorpius and did the honours of pushing them. With the children happily playing, Daphne and Luna settled on a bench while Draco and Hermione wandered around the outside of the play area, pausing when they reached a spot which offered them a clear view of Hogwarts.

With her head resting on Draco's shoulder, Hermione was enjoying the view when she heard a couple of familiar voices calling hello. Looking up, she found Fred and George heading in their direction. Waving to the children as they passed, the twins made their way to where Draco and Hermione were standing.

"I didn't realise you two were here this weekend," Hermione said.

"We were in your shop earlier, and there was no sign of either one of you," Draco added.

"We're not working today," Fred replied.

"Or at least not at the shop," George added. "We're here to sort the fireworks for later."

"Fireworks?" Hermione queried. she knew the reunion was due to end later that evening with barbecue style snacks and drinks, but she'd never heard anything about any firework display.

"To end the reunion with a bang," George explained with a grin. "Make sure you stick around, it'll be great."

"With you two in charge, I'm sure it will be," Hermione replied with a smile.

"More fireworks sounds like a good way to end the day," Draco said.

"More fireworks?" Fred asked. "I take it we've missed something."

"I'm sure you'll hear sooner or later, but Ron and Ginny caused a bit of a scene in The Three Broomsticks," Hermione said.

"Ginny was here?" George questioned in surprise. "Although to be honest, I'm surprised Ron turned up."

"Yeah, we knew nothing about it," Fred remarked. "And Mum certainly didn't know, or she would have said something."

"So what did our hot-headed siblings do then?" George asked, suddenly remembering that Draco had mentioned fireworks and Hermione had mentioned a scene.

"To start with they took great pleasure in gloating over Harry's failed relationship with Daphne," Draco said.

"Oh, have we missed that?" Fred asked, gesturing to where Harry had now returned to his wife and was sitting with his arm wrapped around her.

"We all missed it," Hermione chuckled. "But not Ron and Ginny. Despite not seeing us for ten years, they knew all about how Daphne had left Harry for Draco."

"Where do you fit into all this?" George asked with a laugh as he turned to Draco.

"Apparently, I'm married to Daphne and Scorpius is our son," Draco answered. "Or so your brother and sister reckon after seeing Daphne and I walking down the street together."

"They saw you walking down the street and assumed you were married?" George laughed. "Now Fred, don't you go walking down the street with Angelina, or people will think she's your wife, not mine," he joked to his twin, who was shaking his head and laughing at the stupidity of his younger siblings.

"As if anyone would be able to tell the difference," Draco snorted. "Even your mother struggles to tell you apart."

"True," George agreed. "I never thought of that. In that case, Draco, you stay away from my wife."

"I just can't believe those two idiots," Fred remarked through his laughter "I guess that made them look like total fools."

"It did," Draco confirmed as the laughter died down. "But they weren't done there. All morning they'd been passing Ginny's son off as Ron's."

"Milo?" George checked. "They were saying Ron was his father?"

"That is disgusting," Fred grimaced.

"They weren't admitting Ginny was his mother," Hermione assured the twins. "From what Neville said, Ron seemed to be telling people about his perfect life with his girlfriend, who was away with her family, and his son. Ginny was just playing the doting aunt."

"And let's guess, their lies came tumbling down around their head," Fred snorted. "Well, it's only what they deserve. How did they think they would be able to pass Milo off as Ron's son?"

"They seemed rather shocked to find Harry and I still have contact with the rest of the family," Hermione replied. "I think they thought that once they ended their friendship with us, you all should have done the same."

"Idiots," George snorted. "And where are they now? Let's guess, they've ran off in shame?"

"They didn't stick around long after their lies were exposed, and I haven't seen them since," Hermione replied. "I guess they could still be around."

"They won't be," Fred predicted. "I bet they've ran home, too embarrassed to face the music."

"No doubt Mum will have something to say to the pair of them when she hears about this," George said.

"You're going to tell her?" Draco asked, rather surprised that the twins would run off and tell tales to their mother as they didn't seem the type to snitch on people, least of all their family.

"No, but if they made a big of a show of themselves as it sounds, word will get back to Mum," George answered. "You know how gossip spreads."

"Anyway, we need to be getting on," Fred said. "We just caught sight of you and popped up to say hello."

Fred and George waved goodbye to the children, who were still playing in the play area and headed off to sort out the fireworks for later that evening. Knowing what was planned, Draco and Hermione decided to stick around and their informed their friends, as they knew not everyone had been sure about staying until the bitter end. With everyone staying, they headed back down into the village to visit more shops and Scorpius got himself a Slytherin scarf to keep him warm as the evening drew nearer.

After a fun afternoon the group of friends headed towards the edge of the village, where fresh stalls had been set up, selling hot food and warm drinks. Grabbing something to eat and drink, the group settled on one of the large picnic blankets which had been draped over the grass. An hour or so later, virtually the entire reunion was gathered on the grass enjoying their food and drink when a loud bang caused several people to jump as the sky lit up with purple sparks.

"Look Scorpius, the fireworks are starting," Hermione said, ruffling her son's hair as he snuggled between her and Draco, his eyes gazing up at the sky above them.

The display that followed was greeted by oohs and ahhs from the crowd, as the fireworks created some of the most stunning pyrotechnics Hermione had ever seen. As well as the basic fireworks that created sparks and spirals, the twins had added a few special ones as well. Blue eagles sored through the sky, followed by yellow badgers frolicking in the air. Green snakes slithered around above them, chased by red lions. The Hogwarts crest ended the display and as Hermione watched the animals in the crest start to blend into one as the effect faded in the sky above them, she couldn't help but be grateful for everything she had in her life. Everything that had come from her time spent at Hogwarts.

Turning her head to the side, she caught Harry's eye and the pair shared a knowing smile. Ten years ago, they had started on this adventure with the two Slytherins at their side, and she knew neither of them would change a thing. There may have been a time that neither she nor Harry would have dreamed they would find happiness with Slytherins, but that was exactly what had happened. Maybe it was fate and she and Harry had always been destined to end up with Draco and Daphne. Or maybe it was a choice they'd made when they'd decided to get to know people outside of Gryffindor. Either way, Hermione knew that both she and Harry were right where they were meant to be – happy and in love with their Slytherin spouses.

The End.

A/N – I want to thank everyone for reading, and for those who left reviews. As always, your support is very much appreciated. There will be an After The End to this story, which I will publish next week and then my next longer story will be a Dark Hermione story.